After a master degree in Pharmacy obtained at the University of Milano, Italy, I worked as assistant in the laboratory of Prof. Monica DiLuca at the Pharmacology department in Milano were I acquired biochemical and molecular biological skills.
In 2001 I started a PhD program between the University of Milano and the University of Geneva in the Laboratory of Prof. Luscher. During this period I conducted electrophysiological experiments investigating the cellular mechanisms underlying addiction.
In 2006 I joined the laboratory of Prof. Roger Nicoll at the University of California San Francisco as Post-doc. There I studied synaptic transmission, particularly trafficking of synaptic NMDA-type glutamate receptors (NMDARs) during brain development.
Since I joined the Laboratory of Prof. Luscher in 2008 I got interested in study the postnatal maturation of synaptic transmission onto Dopaminergic neuron of VTA. Moreover since drugs of abuse can lead to adaptive plasticity on the developing brain area we hypothesized that modifications of synaptic transmission caused by the drugs could underlie the learning disabilities reported in children who were exposed to cocaine before birth. Therefore we are interested in study the effect of cocaine exposure in uterus on postnatal maturation of synaptic transmission onto DA neurons of VTA in mice.
In january 2011 I become a Ambizione Fellow from the Swiss national Science Foundation at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Geneva.